The new regulation that came into force on the 1st of June 2020 has required landlords to have the electrical installations in their houses inspected by a qualified and competent person. It is a mandatory inspection, and we recommend that you take the measure wherever you live in the UK.
An electrical installation condition report (EICR)) shows the condition of electrical installations within your property to ensure they are safe and there is no risk of fire hazard or electric shock. It identifies damages, defects, deterioration, and/or other conditions that may indicate potential electrical danger and also provide recommendations for improvement. Remember as a landlord you must legally provide a copy of your landlord electric safety certificate to your tenants
This guide will help you understand your responsibilities concerning the EICR and answer some questions you might have.
What The EICR Report Contains
The EICR is also referred to as a landlord’s electrical safety certificate or “fixed” wire testing. The report shows the following:
- (C1) Code one: Risk of Injury or Danger Present-the inspector can solve this problem during the testing
- (C2) Code two: Potentially Dangerous-further investigation (FI) to be immediately conducted
- (C3) Code three: Improvement Recommended- the report is deemed satisfactory, but further improvement needs to be made
What to Test During an EICR Inspection
The things that need testing are the fixed electrical parts of the property. These include:
- Accessories like switches, sockets, and light fittings
- Cables including those in the ceilings and walls
- Consumer unit (distribution board or fusebox) that consist all the fuses, residual current devices (RCDs), and circuit breakers
The EICR test does not cover home appliances such as TVs, cookers, fridges, etc. It only covers the “fixed” electrics in the property.
Register Your Appliances
If you provide electrical appliances to your tenants as part of the rental agreement, it is important to make sure they are registered. By so, if any fault arises, the manufacturer can contact you easily. Also, you should see that your tenants register any electrical products they are bringing into the building.
Use a Registered Electrician For The Inspection
The electrician that will conduct your electrical safety check must be a qualified person. Only a qualified electrician can conduct or issue an EICR report.
Who is Responsible For an EICR?
The person who owns the property (i.e. the landlord or homeowner) is responsible for organizing the EICR at an interval of five years. They are also responsible for ensuring that the electrician who will conduct the test is skilled and qualified to carry out the EICR. Landlords may be required to present a copy of the report to the local authorities upon request.
Preparing For The EICR Inspection
Preparing for an EICR means creating enough room so that the electrician can access as much of the property as possible. This is important because the electrician will note it in the report if they can not access all parts of the property.
Also, if the building is occupied by tenants, you should give them notice as early as possible. Some testing may require disconnecting power from the building, which means that some activities may be resisted during the inspection. Preferably, your tenants may choose to stay out of the premises during the testing.
In Conclusion
As a landlord, the safety of your property and the people using them should be highly paramount to you. While the minority of property owners know this and put all safety and security measures in place, a minority of them fail to do so. That is why the England government have established a legal obligation for electrical safety to keep all property owners in check. If you are selling a property, an electric safety report will help speed up the process.
We hope this guide was able to provide you with some important things you didn’t know before about the electrical installation condition report (EICR).
